This article shows how to disable connected standby on Windows to avoid situations where it can drain laptop battery life when in sleep.
Key Takeaways:
- Connected Standby is a Windows power management mode that allows it to remain in a low-power state while still connected to the internet.
- Connected Standby can sometimes misbehave and drain laptop battery life even when it is in sleep.
- You can create a registry key called “PlatformAoAcOverride” to disable Connected Standby.
Connected Standby, also known as Modern Standby, InstantGo, or S0 Sleep, was introduced way back in Windows 8. It is designed to take advantage of all the modern features in the chipset and Windows and allow a consistent user experience across all types of Windows devices with its instant resume experience, similar to your mobile phones.
However, Connected Standby has its problems. If you think Connected Standby is causing unnecessary problems, like draining the laptop battery life when in sleep, you can disable it.
Without ado, this simple and easy guide tells you what Connected Standby is, what the problems are, and how to disable Connected Standby on a Windows laptop.
Table of contents:
- What is Connected Standby?
- How to check if your laptop supports Connected Standby
- Problems with Connected Standby
- Should you disable Connected Standby?
- Requirements to disable Connected Standby
- How to disable Connected Standby
- How to enable Connected Standby
The steps below work the same in Windows 10 and 11.
What is Connected Standby?
Connected Standby, also known as Modern Standby or S0 Sleep, is a Windows power management mode that allows it to remain in a low-power state, a.k.a, in sleep, while still connected to the internet. This connected state allows Windows to receive updates & notifications, allow Bluetooth communication, and perform other essential background tasks even when it is in sleep.
Compared to older standby modes such as S3 Sleep, Connected Standby offers an instant resume experience similar to unlocking your mobile phone. In fact, Connected Standby is the reason why your laptop is instantly ready to use when you open the lid after putting it to sleep.
How to check if your laptop supports Connected Standby
Almost all modern Windows laptops and desktops support Connected Standby (Modern Standby). If you want to make sure, you can check if your laptop or PC supports Connected Standby using the “powercfg” command.
Here’s how to check if your PC supports Connected Standby:
- Right-click the Start icon on the taskbar.
- Select the “Terminal” option to open it.
- Run the “powercfg /a” command in the Terminal window.
- If the command response says “Standby (S0 Low Power Idle) Network Connected,” then your PC supports Connected Standby and is using it.
- Close the Terminal window.
Problems with Connected Standby
On paper, Connected Standby or S0 Sleep mode is a fantastic feature that gives you the best of both worlds. i.e., be in a low-power state to improve battery life and be connected so that you can receive notifications and keep the system up to date.
However, have you ever wondered why your laptop’s battery is totally drained even though you know you charged it fully before putting it to sleep? Well, that is because of the Connected Standby feature.
Since the Connected Standby mode keeps the system connected and allows the CPU to run essential background tasks, it can sometimes go haywire and run aggressively. This causes battery drain and even heats up the laptop if it is in a closed environment, like your backpack.
What makes this even worse is that there is no obvious pattern. That means tracking and diagnosing the problem is a challenge.
Should you disable Connected Standby?
It depends.
If you are concerned that the Connected Standby mode is draining your laptop battery when in sleep, then you can try disabling the Connected Standby mode, a.k.a; Modern Standby. This allows a predictable behavior when it comes to the battery life, albeit at the cost of not having instant resume experience.
On the other hand, if you need instant access to Windows or rely on Connected Standby mode for important notifications and want to be able to receive them even when your device is in a low-power state, you may want to keep it enabled.
Ultimately, the decision to disable connected standby mode is up to you and should be based on your specific needs and preferences.
Requirements to disable Connected Standby
Before disabling the Connected Standby mode (S0 Sleep state), you must ensure your system supports the “S3 Sleep state.”
If your PC doesn’t support the S3 Sleep state, you should not disable Connected Standby.
Here’s how to check if your system supports the S3 Sleep state and whether you can disable Modern Standby:
- Open Windows Terminal or PowerShell. You can search for them in the Start menu.
- Next, run the “powercfg /a” command.
- Take a look at the “Standby (S3).”
If you see “The system firmware does not support this standby state” under “Standby (S3),” then your system doesn’t support the S3 Sleep state, and you should not disable Connected Standby (Modern Standby).
How to disable Connected Standby
You can easily turn off Connected Standby on your laptop or desktop with a simple registry modification. All you have to do is add a new registry key and modify it.
Back up the registry before making changes. The backup helps in restoring the registry if something goes wrong.
Important note: Only disable Modern Standby (Connected Standby) when your laptop or PC supports the S3 Sleep state. You can check whether your computer supports the S3 Sleep state using the “powercfg /a” command, as shown in the previous section.
Here’s how to disable Connected Standby on a laptop or PC:
- Open the “Registry Editor.”
- Go to the below folder.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power - Right-click the “Power” folder.
- Select “New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value.”
- Use “PlatformAoAcOverride” as the value name.
- Double-click the value.
- Ensure the Value Data is set to “0.”
- Close the Edit Value window.
- Close the Registry Editor.
- Reboot the PC.
- With that, you’ve disabled Connected Standby.
- Your laptop or PC will automatically switch to Standby (S3) mode.
Steps with more details:
Since we must modify the Registry, open it. You can search for “Registry Editor” in the Start menu and click the first result or use the “regedit” run command.
Now, expand the folder tree on the left sidebar and go to the following folder. You can also paste the given path in the address bar and press Enter.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power
Once you are in the folder, right-click on the “Power” folder and select the “New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value” option.
The above action will create an empty value; name it “PlatformAoAcOverride.”
By default, the value is set to “0.” To confirm it, double-click on the value and look at the “Value Data” field. It should be “0.” If not, set it to “0” and click “Ok.”
To conclude, close the Registry Editor and reboot the computer. Rebooting applies the changes to the system configuration.
After restarting, Connected Standby is disabled, and the S3 Sleep state is automatically enabled. To confirm, run the “powercfg /a” command, and you should see “Standby (S3)” under the “The following sleep states are available on this system” section.
How to enable Connected Standby
If disabling Connected Standby is causing unintended system behavior, such as crashes, or if you disabled it accidentally, you can enable it via the Registry Editor.
Here’s how to enable Connected Standby using Registry Editor:
- Open the Registry Editor.
- Go to the following folder.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power - Right-click on the “PlatformAoAcOverride” value.
- Select the “Delete” option.
- Click “Yes” when prompted.
- Close the Registry Editor.
- Reboot the PC.
- With that, the Connected Standby mode is enabled.
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That is all. It is that simple to disable Connected Standby on Windows.
I hope this simple and easy Windows how-to guide helped you.
If you are stuck or need help, send an email, and I will try to help as much as possible.
Like this guide? Check out how to stop Windows from going to sleep automatically and these simple fixes to stop Windows waking from sleep on its own.
